Although when you get here and have a place go to Whirlpool and use their plan finder to find an ISP but whatever you do, DO NOT choose BigPongd.

EDIT: Oh yeah, regarding the spiders please don't hurt the Huntsmanw spider if you find him in your house, just pick him up on a broom or something and stick him outside. They're not poisonous and do a good job wandering around eating insects although they do get rather large so you might be surprised by one staring down at you while sitting on the toilet.

You'll also get the shock of your life when you flip down the sun visor in the car and have one drop in your lap

Although when you get here and have a place go to Whirlpool and use their plan finder to find an ISP but whatever you do, DO NOT choose BigPongd.

EDIT: Oh yeah, regarding the spiders please don't hurt the Huntsmanw spider if you find him in your house, just pick him up on a broom or something and stick him outside. They're not poisonous and do a good job wandering around eating insects although they do get rather large so you might be surprised by one staring down at you while sitting on the toilet.

You'll also get the shock of your life when you flip down the sun visor in the car and have one drop in your lap

Huntsman? Use a broom? CRIPES! You need a forklift for those things~! Up to 30cm?

...So... what are the laws in Australia regarding fully automatic weapons? (I assume that Howitzers and bazookas are out of the question...) And what's the largest legal caliber?

As for being screwed... I've been so spoiled here in Korea... 10 Mbps is slow. Uncapped. That's the part where I cry!! I looked at Australian ISPs... They're seriously primitive in comparison. All my friends that have moved there complained about it. Well... All my friends that move out of Korea period complain about crappy ISPs, slow speeds, and ridiculous caps and policies. Sigh... $140 AUD for... Sob sob sob sob~!

I heard that the entire Australian Internet infrastructure is up for a rehaul though. I'm sure that will be very welcome.

So I won't be trading places with anyone. I don't think my wife would approve. (I got married this past May.) She's the reason I'm moving there, as she's doing her Ph.D. in Banking and Finance at Monash University.

Regarding ISP's and speed - Koreans moan about it here, too (Canada). I gloat a bit when I tell them that its because our infrastructure underlying the internet is 100 years old and then I crawl off somewhere and feel privately very inadequate...

EDIT: Oh yeah, regarding the spiders please don't hurt the Huntsmanw spider if you find him in your house, just pick him up on a broom or something and stick him outside. They're not poisonous and do a good job wandering around eating insects although they do get rather large so you might be surprised by one staring down at you while sitting on the toilet.

You'll also get the shock of your life when you flip down the sun visor in the car and have one drop in your lap

Nah, we only have the titchy ones here in Oz, about 10cm across is the biggest I've seen.

...So... what are the laws in Australia regarding fully automatic weapons? (I assume that Howitzers and bazookas are out of the question...) And what's the largest legal caliber?

Any full/semi-auto rifles, full/semi-auto and pump-action shotguns are basically a no-no due to a typical knee-jerk reaction on the part of the government. (Before anyone points out, full-auto rifles/shotguns were never legal here prior to the new laws.)

Largest legal calibre, hmm, probably the .460 Wetherby (if you can find one), otherwise go blackpowder and get a .50 calibre Personally, nothing says go away better than a 12 gauge at close range

They're seriously primitive in comparison. All my friends that have moved there complained about it. Well... All my friends that move out of Korea period complain about crappy ISPs, slow speeds, and ridiculous caps and policies. Sigh... $140 AUD for... Sob sob sob sob~!

Probably the best deal is $88 for 1500/256 from RegionalConnect for uncapped. A friend regularly downloads 250-300GB/month on that.

I heard that the entire Australian Internet infrastructure is up for a rehaul though. I'm sure that will be very welcome.

Nope, it won't. It will cost more for end users who will be forced onto it by having the existing infrastructure ripped up, see Ehtyar's Tech News item number 4.

Personally, they can take their National Broadband initiative and shove it up their collective ....[censored]....

EDIT: Oh yeah, add to that their National ISP based content filtering which you'll be forced into because they own the whole network and it's time to seriously think about starting a revolution in this progressively backwards going country.

I gloat a bit when I tell them that its because our infrastructure underlying the internet is 100 years old and then I crawl off somewhere and feel privately very inadequate...

Renegade - come to Sunny South Africa! You'll get a 384kbps (yes I said 384kbps) and a generous 3GB cap all for around R450 - +- $50.... Oh, and I forgot to mention that only one provider for the ADSL line (Telkom) and don't even think about downloading on a Friday as you get Dial Up speed!

Best bit is the View World Results at the bottom. Take it all with a pinch of salt though. Apparently the average European speed is 6.74 Mb but it doesn't alter the fact that while some people are getting in excess of 40Mb there is a huge variation. Within 3 miles of where I live I have seen broadband speeds as low as 200Kb/s up to around 7500Kb/s. I have also seen customers who can't get broadband at all (even though all of the surrounding houses have it - some of the houses are joined together but neighbours have different experiences).

The whole thing is a lottery.

One of my friends was surprised that if she went from the north of England to Nepal she would stand a better chance of getting broadband and it would probably be faster!